The Snake and the Doll
by MoonlitMeeting
Summary: One more child was taken from the Tower Of Heaven. They were promised the world all they had to do was grow strong and help him find Nirvana. They should have known that things never go the way they're supposed to and people change. Promises are made and broken, bridges are built and burned, time spares no one and beautiful things attract destruction, always.(R/R)


**Disclaimer- Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and the characters and plot.**

**AN: I've noticed that it's hard to find stories about Cobra/Erik which I think is shame since he's a pretty cool character, so I decided to write my own. Enjoy =3**

**AN 2(09/21/13)Edited chapter and made it longer since I think it makes more sense to do it like this**.

Chapter 1

"Keep working!" The order was emphasized by the crack of a whip.

I made sure to keep my head trudged along. Rule one of survival, don't draw attention to yourself.

I hated it here, we toiled day after day for this R-system or Tower of Heaven they called it. That name is a nothing but a lie. This tower may have been reaching towards the Heavens, but had none of its grace or kindness.

I missed my family. I missed the warmth of home. I missed my chores. Anything was better than this, I'm just a kid. How can they expect me to do this kind of labor? But if I don't I'll end up like those fools who tried to fight back. I shuddered at the mere thought.

"Alright break time you insects. Group E is first today, you have fifteen minutes to eat and drink. MOVE IT!" A guard barked.

I heaved a sigh of relief and ran to where they handing out bread, water, and an unidentifiable dried meat. I was in Group E. This group system was how they fed us during the day without stopping production. We were divided into groups and while one rested the others kept working until it was their turn.

We didn't have long so you had to be quick. The guards didn't care if had a chance to eat, in fact I don't think they'd feed us at all if we weren't worth more alive than dead.

I grabbed my meager share and ran to find a corner to eat peacefully in. It wasn't uncommon for some of the bigger slaves to steal food from the younger ones.

I a spot behind some crates where the others couldn't be able to see me, but found it occupied already. It was a boy with a purple snake in his hand.

"Where'd you find that?" I didn't know snakes could be that color.

"It's none of your business!" He snapped, leaning over the snake protectively.

"S-sorry, I was just curious. I didn't know snakes could be such a pretty color." I sniffed.

"It's okay, you just surprised me." He said while running a hand through his unruly maroon hair.

"Sorry, can I sit here and eat? I don't want anyone to take my food." I was small for my age and some people took advantage of that.

"Fine," he grumbled but didn't make much of a fuss. He knew what it was like to have something taken away.

I sat down cautiously and nibbled on my rations while he murmured to his pet and gave it bits of his food.

"What's its name?"

"His name is Cubellios." He said a bit defensively.

"How do you know your pet's a he?"

"I just know! And he's not a pet he's my friend. My first friend." He mumbled the last sentence but I heard it.

_'He must have been alone even before he was brought here.'_ At least I had a family I could think about when I was lonely. Even though I would never see them again.

"Sorry I didn't know. Sorry Cubellios," I apologized to Cubellios to pacify the boy.

To my surprise Cubellios hissed and sort of nodded at me.

"Wow he's really smart!" I said in surprise and to the boy's great surprise I gave Cubellios a small piece of my meat.

"What's your name? Mine's Cilia Stonewahler." I said holding out my hand.

"It's Erik." He seemed to be in shock and numbly shook my hand.

"Cool, hey do you want to be my friend too? I can help you take care of Cubellios since he's so small," _'and I wouldn't be alone anymore.'_

"I-I guess you can, as long you don't cause me any trouble." He said though on the inside he was pleased. Though he wasn't sure how much he could trust this girl yet he now had two friends, and one of them he could even talk to.

"Alright Group E back to work. Group F your turn." We both froze before springing into action.

I ran back to my work station shoving my remaining bread down my shirt later, Erik did the same with Cubellios. We spared each other a glance before focusing solely on our work. We'd meet up later.

The happiness I felt after becoming friends with Erik quickly faded and was replaced by the perpetual fear all the slaves felt under the watchful eye of our masters and their pet monsters. I vaguely heard as other groups were called to take their breaks but didn't break my pace until a heard a boy cry out near me.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a child about my age being pushed to ground while an adult ran away with his food. He had odd colored hair, it was black but the underneath it was white. After the man was gone he remained on the ground holding his head in his hands, crying and trembling while others looked on. The guards did nothing, they never did unless there was a fight or it disrupted our work.

I couldn't help but pity him. It wasn't fun being the smallest and the weakest in a place like this. And he was scrawny even for someone our age, this probably happened to him a lot. Then I remembered the bread in my shirt, and after a brief debate I turned around and started walking towards the boy.

I had my arms full of unusable rubble and when I passed by him I let the bread fall out in front of him.

"Don't let anyone see it and eat when you're alone." I hissed as I made my way to a garbage cart.

The boy could only stare as the girl with messy black hair and sky blue eyes walked away, stunned by her kindness. A moment later he scrambled to hide the bread as she suggested and went back to work when his group's break ended.

He tried to catch sight of her again but gave up when the guards began to eye him. He didn't stop thinking about her though. He wondered what her name was.

**(Time Skip)**

The day was finally over. I was exhausted physically and mentally. Three slaves had collapsed and where subsequently beaten and or whipped. When we paused to watch the gruesome display the guards turned their whips on us. We quickly turned back to our work and by the third time it happened nobody even batted an eye.

I was so tired I was ready to fall to ground and sleep there. I so a few who did just that and were savagely kicked awake. I turned away and focused on putting one step in front of the other.

I stumbled and almost fell, but a hand steadied me and I saw Erik at my side.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"No problem, are you gonna be okay . . . Cilia?" I almost didn't hear my name he uttered it so softly.

"Yeah, I just need to sleep." I was leaning on him now, grateful for the support he offered.

He sighed, relieved he wasn't about to lose friend number two so soon.

We were herded into a cell and collapsed in one of the corners still leaning together. It didn't look like they were going to feed us tonight. I kind of regretted giving the boy my bread but at least someone would be fed tonight.

"Hey Cilia," Erik whispered.

"Yeah," I was struggling to keep my eyes open.

"You're really my friend right? Like Cubellios is."

"Of course I am. I wouldn't have said so if I wasn't, mom said it's bad to lie." I snuggled into him, seeking what little warmth I could find.

"So you'll never leave me? You'll talk to me?" He pressed, sounding a little desperate.

"As long as you want me to stay." I promised before I finally fell asleep.

I didn't even notice when he put his arm around me or when Cubellios slid out of shirt and curled up between us.

**(Sometime Later in the Morning)**

Erik roused himself when he heard the guards opening the cage doors down the hall. He glanced down at the girl beside him and decided to let her sleep for as long as she could.

It was hard to keep to track of time in this place but they were both taller than when they met so he knew he'd known her awhile now.

Their friendship had started out as a tentative experiment on his part, but he was glad he'd taken that chance. There were too few people here that could be trusted if any. The longer they were here the more people began to look after themselves first and others never.

Some, especially the children, would form small groups but those groups were for themselves. It was them against the world, however small it might be.

A particularly loud bang woke Cilia and she pulled away from him to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Do they have to make so much noise?" She complained.

"I think they do, it makes them seem like they're actually important." He said with a smirk.

Cilia covered her mouth to stifle her laughter before the guards could hear her.

On the way down they noticed a group of children, notably one with bright red hair and one with blue hair, huddled close together and whispering. Erik strained to hear what they were saying when he felt a prickle of unease. The word 'escape' stood out to him.

He felt a rush of hope but crushed it. There was no way out of the R-System and anyone who tried was in for a taste of Hell.

"What is it?" Cilia asked.

"Nothing we need to worry about." He said.

If only it were true.

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"Come on you can do it Cubellios. Say, Erik how are you?" Erik was trying to coax his friend into talking during a rare moment of rest.

"Hsssssss," was all he got for efforts.

"I know you can understand me, but I can't understand you." He said sadly.

What he wouldn't give to be able to hear the voice of his very first friend. Speaking of friends Cilia was beginning to worry him.

"Cilia's been kinda quite lately don't ya think Cubellios?"

"Hsssssss," Cubellios rubbed his head against his friend's arm.

"She used to talk about her old home a lot but she hasn't said much about it recently." He continued as he gently stroked his companion's scaly head.

"When I asked her about it she said she couldn't remember where home was or what her mother looked like anymore. What do you think I should do to cheer her up?"

"Hssssssss," Cubellios merely flicked his tongue at the boy as if to say how should I know?

"Yeah I guess it's kinda pointless to ask you huh?" He sighed and thudded his head against the crate he was leaning on.

Unfortunately this attracted unwanted attention.

"Hey what are you doing back there?!" A guard roared.

"Shit! Cubellios hide." Before he had even finished speaking the snake darted away into the shadows.

However, he wasn't quite fast enough.

"What was that?" The guard demanded as he hoisted the boy up by the front of his shirt.

"Nothing"

"Don't lie to me you little punk, I know I saw something. What are you hiding?" He began to shake his captive to try and force the truth out of him, the next step would be to use his fists.

**CRASH!**

"What was that?" He drop Erik to ground in favor of a new target, which turned to be . . .

"Cilia!" Erik shout in horror.

She had knocked over a tool shelf and in the process had unveiled a little secret of hers to take the guard's attention off of her friends.

"What the Hell are those supposed to be?" He asked as he picked something off the ground, a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"Dolls," she muttered, eyes focused on the floor.

"Pffft, this thing is supposed be a doll? Hah!" He laughed as he threw it to ground and began to grind it beneath his boot, taking pleasure in the tears he knew were in the child's eyes.

Despite his cruel words, and the make shift materials they were made of, the dolls were actually well made. It was easy to tell a which was a girl or boy and they even had faces made of mud.

"Stop it!" Erik roared as he charged the guard, unable to hold back his anger. He couldn't bear to see his friend's hard work destroyed like that.

**(Flashback)**

"what are you doing?" Erik asked Cilia when he saw fiddling with scraps and dirt.

"Making a doll."

"Why?"

"Home was a place full of good people, I remember that much. I thought maybe if I made some people who won't hurt us this place might feel a little warmer. Besides I kind of like the idea that these people need me, they wouldn't exist without me. Isn't that neat?" She said with a smile.

"If you say so, just don't let anyone see them." He cautioned, not really getting what she was saying.

As far he was concerned they didn't need anyone else. He just needed her and Cubellios to be happy, but if it made her smile like that he wasn't going to stop her.

**(End Flashback)**

His efforts to defend her were futile. The guard merely kicked him in the gut and back handed Cilia, hard, across the face.

"If you have time for this shit you aren't working hard enough. Get back to work and don't do this again or you'll really be sorry!" The guard growled watching them scurry away before stalking off in search of more victims. The purple streak he'd seen a moment before completely forgotten.

" sniffle" Cilia was fighting back tears as her face began to bruise and swell.

"Are you alright?" Erik asked, one arm protectively over his gut, walking hunched over.

"I'll be okay, they were just toys," though her eyes told a different story.

Erik grit his teeth in frustration, how he wished for the power to tear the bastard apart. It almost surpassed his desire to hear Cubellios's voice. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was someone hurting either of his friends, they were all he had. And speaking of the reptile. . .

"Did Cubellios get away okay?" Cilia asked, both out of concern and to change the topic.

"Yeah, he's around here somewhere." He said, relaxing slightly.

Cubellios had been growing fast and could now wrap around Erik's waist completely. It made him harder to hide and harder to feed. Fortunately he had also begun to hunt for his own food, feeding off of small mice and insects. He even went off by himself now, though he rarely went far.

Suddenly there was a commotion and they saw the group of children from that morning being dragged away by the guards.

That was a bad sign, when that happened either you didn't come back the same or you didn't come back at all.

"What happened?" Cilia asked the closest slave.

"Those fool kids tried to escape that's what, now get busy, the guards are going to be extra sharp and extra harsh because of this." With that he turned his back and left them to their own devices.

"Oh no," Cilia said sadly.

"It'll be alright, it's not us they're looking at anymore." He said to try and comfort her.

She nodded to him and got to work. She didn't want another beating so soon.

Erik risked one more glance over his shoulder at where he'd last seen the escapees before facing forward again. The sliver of hope he felt and a brief vision of life outside the tower was soon washed away by the misery and pain that filled the R-System. It was washed away just like Cilia's memories of home and her smile.

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(While All This Is Happening)

He hadn't seen much of that girl that fed him. He'd really only caught glimpses of her here and there and never got the chance to approach her.

He gotten close a few times but the guards were always watching for slackers and his group was usually in a different section than hers. She had the prettiest eyes and he was sure she was just as cute under the grime that covered all the R-System slaves.

She was almost always with a boy who looked a little older than her too.

_'He must be taking care of her,'_ the pale two tone haired boy concluded, feeling a touch envious.

She certainly looked like she needed it, she was so delicate looking especially with that new bruise on her face. He'd been lucky enough that their groups worked close together today and had seen the altercation. Then there was this escape plan fiasco that had everyone on edge.

Freedom, oh how he longed for that. A place where he could rest peacefully at last without being afraid something would get him if he did.

It didn't seem likely to happen though, no matter how hard he prayed. There was nothing he could do, but survive and maybe one day meet the girl with eyes the color of the sky face to face.

**AN: (Read and Review) If anyone thinks that, you guessed it, Midnight is acting odd or don't understand why he's acting like this just PM me or post a question in a review and I'll explain. I'll do this with any questions you have. So see you next chapter.**


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